The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has officially launched an 8-week public consultation aimed at making key revisions to the UK Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) regulations.

    The core measures of this revision include: adding five new chemical substances with high environmental risks to the list of substances prohibited from manufacturing, using, and placing on the market (Annex I of the regulation), and significantly tightening the regulatory threshold for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS).

    The new regulations are expected to come into effect on December 16, 2026, significantly strengthening the chemical compliance framework in England, Wales, and Scotland to address increasingly severe environmental challenges.

    This revision also adjusts the limit values for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and its derivatives:

    1. Current limit:

    In substances or mixtures: 10mg/kg (0.001% weight ratio).

    2. Proposed new limit values in the draft:
    PFOS and its salts: reduced to 0.025mg/kg (0.0000025% weight ratio).

    PFOS related compounds (derivatives): reduced to 1mg/kg (0.0001% weight ratio).